Calypso Orchid
12. FOUR-O’CLOCKFour-O’Clock Family
Mirabilis multiflora
Closely resembling the cultivated variety of Four-O’Clock, this plant, with its abundance of brilliant magenta-colored flowers, is one of the spectacular sights in May or early June. It is a sturdy perennial with thick, glossy-green leaves spreading low over the ground. The south-facing slopes in the Sonoran Zones are its most common habitat, but it is also found in the broken lava fields. Being a night bloomer, the flowers close during the bright daylight hours and open at about four o’clock in the afternoon. Its blooming season is generally brief, about two or three weeks, but it sometimes blooms twice in the same summer.
Four-O’Clock
13. SPRINGBEAUTYPurslane Family
Claytonia lanceolata
Found abundantly at Cedar Breaks during May and early June and also in the shady canyons of Zion in the Transition Zone. Each plant has two narrow leaves near the base, each about 2 inches long, above which are four to five practically leafless branches with a single flower at the top of each. The plant is rarely over 6 inches high; more commonly it is flat to the ground. Flowers vary in color from white to pink or sometimes the white blossoms have pink veins or stripes which tend to accentuate their beauty. Usually one of the early blooming flowers of the high plateaus, along with the Indianpotato and Buttercup.
Springbeauty